Mutation induction by thymine deprivation in Escherichia coli B/R. II. Mutation in the repressed and derepressed...

True Trp+ reversions are induced by thymine deprivation in cells with repressed trp operons as efficiently as in derepressed cells. At least part of the mutations are fixed during thymine starvation, i.e. in the absence of net DNA synthesis. The hypothesis is put forward that thymineless mutagenesis is due to repair-replication under limited concentrations of 5'-dTTP, performed by an inducible error-prone "DNA-polymerizing activity" on single-strand gaps.